BACKGROUND
Worldwide many students participate in physical activity and sports related studies. During the course of these studies a high level of physical activity and exercise skills is demanded. In physical education teacher education (PE) studies, during the first three years on average more than 250 hours per year are spent on practical sports classes. In addition, most PE students participate in extracurricular sports as well. Therefore, these students are at high risk of sustaining a sports injury during the course of their studies. Recent studies covered injuries during the freshman year only.
This research project covers the first two steps of the “sequence of prevention” in PE studies.
The first aim is to describe the prevalence of injuries during the first three years of PE studies and to compare injury risks between curriculum periods (years and semesters) and between sexes in PE students. Injuries in PE students over the period 2000-2014 are investigated for this purpose.
The second aim of this project is to identify possible risk factors for injuries in PE students. In a three-year prospective cohort study, intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors for injuries in freshman PE students are investigated. In a qualitative study, the perspectives from PE students on risk factors for injuries during the first three years of their study are investigated from a socio-ecological perspective.